I don’t know how rich we are, but from the things I’ve heard I figure it’s a lot. But we live in a standard tract house and don’t have fancy cars or lots of material goods and my folks don’t belong to country clubs or parade around with high-society types. Unless they’re trying to woo them for money for the foundation.
“Okay,” I said. “Good luck.”
“You too, son, although we know you don’t need it.”
“You never know,” I said.
“Kick ass, Michael,” Kaitlyn said.
—
I drove my truck to Lee High School and parked my pickup as close to the gym as I could get. It being Saturday morning, there was plenty of parking available. There was a push on to get the school district to change my school’s name. Who knew that it had been named after Robert E. Lee? The political climate was such that “Lee High School” was somehow inflammatory now. I thought it was silly, but maybe that was my white privilege talking.
“Mikey!” Dave Reynolds came up to me and we did the usual high-five, low-five, fist grab thing. We’d been best friends for years. Dave wrestled at 160 and he was pretty good.
“Are we going to kick some Vista butt today, Mikey?”
“Hope so,” I said.
He just stared at me. “What the fuck do you mean, ‘Hope so’? That doesn’t sound like the Mike Thomas I know!”
“Well… there’s this guy…”
“Mark Wade, right? In your weight class.”
I sighed. “I’ve watched him. He’s good.”
“You’re better,” Dave said. “And you’re going to prove it. Dude: you’re the Hulk!”
Which made me think of what Kait had said at breakfast. Why hadn’t she nailed me about what had happened this morning? She could have had a field day. I shook it off.
“Right,” I said. “Let’s go get ’em.”
I sat on the bench and watched Dave slowly lose. I was sorry for him, but I was distracted as I saw my sister walk into the gym and over towards our bench, all 5’2″ of her. Damned if she wasn’t wearing the same thin tank top, over white short-shorts and sandals. With her tan and her long blond hair framing her lovely face, she looked like a beach bunny taking a quick detour from the ocean.
“Hi Mike,” she said. “Did I miss you?”
Still no bra, I thought. She looked incredibly hot. Damn, what a weird fucking day. I’d spent 18 years not thinking of my sister this way and now this it was all I could think about.
“I’m next,” I said.
“Good! I’ll be in the stands cheering for you.” She caressed my cheek and I watched as she climbed the seats, her ass moving hypnotically under those skimpy shorts.
I shook my head to clear it and focused on Dave, just as he was pinned.
“Dammit!” Coach Thomas said. “Okay Mike, you’re up.”
I was already warmed up so I just did some leg stretches as Dave walked dejectedly back to the bench.
“Sorry, Coach,” he said as he sat down.
“No problem, Dave, you did your best. Just wasn’t your day.” Coach paused. “He’s probably on fucking steroids,” he said quietly.
I love Coach.
Mark Wade and I squared off and pretty much just slapped at each other for the first minutes, looking for a good opening.
I heard Kaitlyn yell, “Go, Mike!” Which distracted me. Which was, I told myself, why Mark was able to take me down with a simple single leg lock. Instantly he was ahead on points. Luckily I’d managed to pivot and land on all fours and he was going to have to fight pretty hard to get me on my back. I traded time for leverage and fought him with everything I had, but couldn’t break out. I was sweating out all of my energy. He was unshakable and his head was right next to my ear.
“Your sister’s a fucking whore,” he said.
I saw red, and adrenaline pumped into my veins. I straightened my arms, pushing myself and Mark up off the floor. The crowd gasped as I stood up and held him above me, ready to throw him to the floor.
“Mike!” Coach Thomas yelled.
It broke through. Instead of throwing him, I took a knee and dropped Mark to the floor held his legs up and laid on top of him for a quick pin. I started to get up but Mark grabbed my hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m really sorry. Coach told me to try that. No other way he knew to beat you.”
I stared at him, still pissed but now mostly not at Mark. My own coach didn’t have to give me too many pointers but I listened to him and tried everything he suggested, so I had to give Mark the benefit of the doubt. I helped him stand up.
“I was about to break you in two, Wade,” I said.
“I could tell. Thanks for not killing me.”
“I really love my sister,” I said. “You might want to think about not listening to everything your coach tells you to try.”
“I get that,” Mark said. “I love my sister, too. It was a stupid thing to do. It won’t happen again.” He turned and headed for his bench, and I did the same. My teammates all high-fived me, but Coach looked angry.
“What the hell was that out there?” he said quietly. “I was sure you were about to throw him down!”
“I was,” I said, and told him what Mark had said to me.
Coach Thomas looked across the gym at Mark’s coach. “That son of a bitch,” he said, throwing down his clipboard. “That’s over the top. I’m going to report him.”
I didn’t know what to say about that. I had already calmed most of the way down, enough to notice that the inside of my right leg was starting to hurt. I rubbed it.
“What’s wrong?” Coach said.
“I think I pulled something,” I said.
“I’m not surprised, the moves you made holding that kind of weight in that kind of position. From where you’re rubbing, it looks like a groin pull. Not good.” He went to the cooler and came back with a cold pack.
“Ice it,” he said. “Off and on for 24 hours. Stay off of it and keep it elevated. Come to school early on Monday and we’ll evaluate it.”
I took the cold pack and slowly made my way into the stands past Lee students and family who were all clapping and congratulating me. Kaitlyn was standing and smiling and clapping with them. There was a small wet spot on the crotch of her white shorts. I hugged her and sat her down quickly, not wanting her to be embarrassed. I pressed the cold pack to my leg.
“Are you hurt?” she said.
“Just a little muscle pull,” I said.
“I’ve never seen you make a move like that,” she said. “I’ve never seen anybody do that in all the time I’ve watched your meets. How could you lift him like that? You made it look like he weighed nothing.”
“I was pissed,” I said.
“Because he took you down?”
“No.” I was silent for a moment, then decided to tell her. “He insulted you.”
She just looked at me. “What did he say?”
“Something not very nice.”
“What was it?”
I looked into her eyes. “He called you a ‘fucking whore’.”